'Most incredible feeling': Dreams take off at Qantas Academy

WHEN Beth Acton was a kid, she always wanted to sit in the window seat and get a look in the plane cockpit. Now, she will get more than a look when the Toowoomba Qantas Academy takes off on September 30.

"I was always fascinated by planes and aerodynamics," she said.

After a few false starts at university, Ms Acton bit the bullet and signed up for the academy. "It opened up at a good time," she said. "I'm very, very excited."

Apart from a few flights in a light plane, the 21-year-old has "virtually no experience". But she said that was preferred, so the academy could shape the kind of pilot Ms Acton became.

"It was insane," she said about her first flight.

"You have to do it to understand. I am very much a thrill-seeker. It was the most incredible feeling."